Category Archives: Books

good reads

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I recently read two charming books by author Marisa De Los Santos. I enjoyed them both and I’m happy to add a new author to my list of favorites. Her writing style is very natural and easy to read, the books aren’t quite in the chick-lit category but they are geared more toward women (similar to Elizabeth Berg). They are about family, relationships, friendship, love lost and found, all that everyday life stuff. There are no guns or mysterious dead bodies (i.e. CSI crime scenes) so I would say that they are good reads for the beach when you want a little escapism and no nightly news gorism (yes, I just made that word up). I also liked how the characters carried over between the two books, I didn’t expect that so it was a pleasant surprise to meet up with them again.

bookbabie’s big give

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My first book giveaway was so much fun. I literally put all your names in a hat and made Mr. bookbabie close his eyes and reach in to pick the winner. Now I understand why Oprah likes to give stuff away! I know, it’s just one little book, not anywhere near the same level of generosity as Ms. Winfrey, but hey, giving is giving and my only regret is that all of you who entered can’t win the copy of Sophie Kinsella’s newest book, Remember Me? And so without further ado, the winner of the first ever bookbabie book giveaway is…Beth, congratulations Beth! I think I’ll keep my eye on the NY Times Bestseller list and do another giveaway this summer, hmm, maybe a good old fashioned murder mystery to take to the beach:)

book freebie

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Thought I’d do a book giveaway to ring in the spring (or nudge it along, more snow is predicted this afternoon) and what better book (I love the cover!) than Sophie Kinsella’s delightful new novel, Remember Me? The story is fun and breezy, exactly what some of us need after a long dreary winter. If you’d like to win this brand new hardcover book, leave a comment on this post and I’ll throw them all in a hat and do a random drawing on Monday (*March 31st) ! Yes, even those of you who live in year-round warmth and sunshine can enter, I promise, I won’t hold it against you:)

memorable memoirs

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ifyouneedme.jpgThe 6 Word Memoir Meme is still going strong, a big thanks to all of you who played and passed it on, it’s been a lot of fun! Larry Smith, one of the authors of the book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure contacted me and wrote, “I’ve been meaning to email you and say you’re: a) awesome b) [you have] fully set forth a dream I’ve had since I read the first issue of Wired a million years ago: to be a part of a meme.” I’m so glad you liked the meme Larry! While I’m on the subject of memoirs…I finished reading Kate Braestrup’s memoir, Here if You Need Me today. I like to have a non-fiction book going along with a fiction selection and I always enjoy a good memoir. Ms. Braestrup’s writing style is right up my alley; spare, lyrical at times, and it’s a lovely heartfelt story, all in all one good read. Other memoirs I’ve enjoyed are Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, The Color of Water by James McBride (he has a cool website, click on his name to check it out!) Blindsided by Richard Cohen, Saving Milly by Morton Kondracke, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, and The Camino: A Journey of Spirit by Shirley MacLaine.

winter reading list

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“What do you want to do this weekend?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“I want to sit here in the sun and read my book.”
“That’s something.”
“Yeah, it is isn’t it?”

Last week a friend asked me what I had been reading this winter. Maybe it’s age (or lack of sunlight) but I could only think of a couple of titles. So I went and took a peek at my booksheves to refresh my memory. My book club read The Known World (didn’t like it, too many characters and timeline flip-flops for my currently ADDish brain), Middlesex (a family epic deftly written and based here in the Detroit area), Eat, Pray, Love (a joy) and next up for us is The Pillars of the Earth. Hmm, I think those are all Oprah books, we don’t always read off her list but lately that seems to be the case. On my personal reading list was I Love You Beth Cooper (very funny writer, but the high school setting got old, or maybe I’m just old), Those Who Save Us (good mother/daughter relationship read), The Alchemist (a lovely little spiritual fable), The Painted Drum (if you appreciate lyrical writing like I do you’ll like this one). In the photo I’m reading The Camino (fascinating if you have an open mind), I enjoyed They Did It with Love (a lightweight murder mystery about a mystery book club) and the short stories in Alice Munro’s Runaway were wonderful. I read a couple from Jackie Mitchard recently, Cage of Stars (my fave of the two) and Still Summer (a high seas adventure that explores the nature of friendship). Jackie not only seamlessly weaves stories laced with heartbreaking characters and suspenseful plots, but she is an author who has always been generous and gracious to her fans. Click on her name and check out her fabulous website!

The holidays always slow down my page turning ways, plus I’m making an effort to finish my third book which means less time reading and more time writing. Those of you who voted for my #2 novel excerpt on Amazon, thank you, thank you, thank you! I didn’t make the final cut but it was encouraging to enter my first contest and garner a few of my own fans along the way:)

6 word memoir meme

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As I read yet another book review of a memoir this weekend, my husband told me that I should write one. I said that my story would be much too short and rather boring so when I ran across the following book I decided it was just my speed. A six word memoir! Written by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure is a compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were- For Sale: baby shoes, never worn. There’s a video on Amazon with examples from the book, it sounds like a fun read! I’d like to start a six word memoir meme and here are the rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere

4 .Tag five more blogs with links

5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

It was actually a lot more difficult that I thought it would be, but here’s mine…

This too shall pass, I hope.

I tag Melynn at Breathing Easy, Sandy at My Inner Edge, Lisa at Books on the Brain, Janie at Ragamuffins, and Fighting Windmills.

If you haven’t been tagged but would like to participate go ahead and copy and paste this post to initiate your own string of the game, or post a comment with your 6 word memoir and I’ll post them later:)

**Blonde Momentos added a link to Smith Magazine on her memoir post where you can go and leave your memoir, they are collecting them for book #2!

123…just be free

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rosie.jpg

Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people. (I think every book blogger I know has already been tagged with this one!)

I’ve been tagged by Fighting Windmills and Books on the Brain with the page 123 book meme. My teetering To-Be-Read pile had a copy of The Untethered Soul, by Micheal Singer in it and these are the sentences I found on page 123: You see that you’re too self-conscious to freely express yourself. You see that you have to stay on top of everything in order to be okay. Why?

Those lines got me thinking. A lot of people don’t care for Rosie O’Donnell. They say that she could do with a little less self expression, and I will give you that occasionally in her need to have her say she may have crossed a line that was hurtful or offensive to some people. On the other hand, I’ve sometimes envied her freedom to let it all hang out, to say “Hey, this is who I am and what I believe and I don’t care whether you like it or not!” Even in this land of the free and home of the brave most women are still raised to be good girls, and good girls are polite and helpful and taught to always put others first. While highly successful women who are outspoken and assertive are often portrayed in the media as being bitchy shrews. Politics aside, Hillary Clinton is an example of that right now. She’s either being slammed for being cold and overly aggressive, or for showing too much emotion. A girl just can’t win…or can she? The greatest gift we can give our daughters is the freedom to find their own voice, to believe that it is not only their right, but their obligation to express themselves and stand fearlessly in their own lives.

Oh yeah, the Rosie portrait up there, I did that with Mr. Picassohead!

book heavens

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bookstore.jpg

The Guardian Unlimited did a story recently about the top ten bookshops around the world. These are not your corner Barnes & Noble’s. One is in an 800 year old church, another provides books to British Royals and has been around since 1796, and the shop pictured above is a converted theater. Below is a photo from my own much more humble home office/library. When we first bought the house my husband wanted to call it “the library”. I think he had visions of retiring there in the evenings, sinking into a well worn leather chair, sipping his favorite red cab and smoking a fine, hand rolled cigar. Well I crushed that dream before the perfect shade of taupe paint on those walls was even dry! I mean, he doesn’t even like smoking cigars, he only does it when he’s with his friends after golf, it’s sooo totally a peer pressure thing (and it’s sooo not good for him). We do have lots of books in there though (my books) and a leather desk chair (my chair) at the computer (my computer) and we ended up calling it “the office”, sorry Mr. bookbabie. That darling collage on the spare chair of me and the mister and our two pets (who are now in pet heaven) was done by artist Claudine Hellmuth. After our dog Nikki died, it made me too sad to look at it, but now I’m trying to find the perfect place to hang it. I just snapped the photo this morning and as you can see the living room is flooded with sunlight. I hope it holds, I plan to go for a walk later (Melynn), even though it’s cold, cold, cold!